New CNN chief's first major hire is retired cop who recently lied about the NYPD spying on Muslims

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Matthew Gertz
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Maybe CNN just wants an expert on hand to answer the question "why do police lie to elected officials?"

mediamatters.org
New CNN chief’s first major hire is retired cop who recently lied about the NYPD spying on Muslims...
1:27 PM · Sep 6, 2022

https://www.mediamatters.org/cnn/new-cnn-chiefs-first-major-hire-retired-cop-who-recently-lied-about-nypd-spying-muslims-after

CNN’s newest pundit is John Miller, a former top New York police officer with a history of misleading the public.

Miller will join the network as the chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. The move appears to be part of a larger right-ward shift and very public identity crisis at CNN, as new CEO Chris Licht has pushed out high-profile on-air talent that was critical of Donald Trump. (CNN also hired CBS’s Dr. Tara Narula as a medical correspondent.)

Miller is a prominent example of the revolving door between law enforcement and media, having been both a journalist and NYPD spokesperson over the course of his career. He also epitomizes the danger of treating law enforcement as neutral or reliable sources of information, rather than propagandists. Miller’s long history of deceiving the public is strong evidence that Licht’s reign at CNN will be defined by attempts to win favor with conservatives rather than inform the network’s audience.

In March, Miller – still serving in his official police role as deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism – lied to the New York City Council and claimed that “there is no evidence” the NYPD spied on Muslim communities after 9/11. Muslim leaders and advocacy groups were outraged at the false claim and demanded that Mayor Eric Adams censure Miller as a consequence. Councilwoman Shahana Hanif, the city council’s only Muslim member, called on District Attorney Alvin Bragg to investigate Miller for possible perjury for the remarks. Adams later contradicted Miller, admitting that the NYPD did in fact spy on Muslims after 9/11 and saying of the department, “What we did was wrong.”

That wasn’t Miller’s only foray into Islamophobia. In 2016, he denied allegations that the NYPD violated its own surveillance policy in targeting Muslims. “If you’re investigating al Qaeda, and TTP and ISIL plots against New York City, your investigating targets are going to be who they are,” Miller said, referring to the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic State, as reported by Reuters.

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